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BBA Joins Freedom for All Massachusetts Coalition in Supporting Transgender Antidiscrimination Law

The Boston Bar Association strongly supports
protecting An Act Relative to Transgender Antidiscrimination,
signed into law by Governor Charlie Baker in 2016, from repeal at the ballot in
November this year. As of today, the BBA has added its name to the Freedom for
All Massachusetts Coalition, which includes hundreds of organizations,
advocates, public officials, and businesses, in support of its ongoing efforts
to protect the rights of transgender individuals in the commonwealth.

For
over a decade, the Boston Bar Association has supported and advocated for
antidiscrimination laws that extend protections for transgender individuals. We
applauded the initial protections passed in
2011, which added protections on the basis of gender identity to housing,
health, credit, and education, as well as the extension of these protections to
include public accommodations in
2016. By passing An Act Relative to Transgender Antidiscrimination,
Massachusetts ensured that necessary antidiscrimination protections extended to
places like restaurants and malls and allows people to use the restroom or
locker room that matches their gender identity.

These critical
protections are at risk. Later this year, voters will decide whether
Massachusetts reverses its progress toward equal rights for transgender
individuals. The 2016 law will appear as a statewide veto referendum on the
November 2018 ballot, asking whether voters approve of the law and the
protections it provides.

The core of the BBA’s mission is promoting
equal justice for all, and we strongly oppose the repeal of this
law.

“The Boston Bar Association has a
long history of fighting for equal justice, and we celebrated the expansion of
transgender antidiscrimination protections to public accommodations last year,”
BBA President Mark Smith said. “It is my hope that, in concert with the Freedom
for All Massachusetts coalition, we can prevent this important civil rights
victory from being reversed.”

To learn more about Freedom for All Massachusetts, and see how you can get
involved, please click
here
.

The Boston Bar Association traces its origins to meetings convened by John Adams, who provided pro bono representation to the British soldiers prosecuted for the Boston Massacre and went on to become the nation’s second president. Its mission is to advance the highest standards of excellence for the legal profession, facilitate access to justice, serve the community at large and promote diversity and inclusion.